Catherine Zeta-Jones (57) Admits She Has No Intention of Reading Michael Douglas’s Racy Memoir

Hollywood memoirs usually come with a familiar side effect: everyone in the author’s orbit gets asked whether they have read it yet. Michael Douglas’s new book, ‘One Helluva Ride’, has been no exception, especially since it landed in stores on Oct. 6 with a few headline-grabbing confessions inside.

The book covers a lot of ground, from Douglas’s childhood as Kirk Douglas’s son to his biggest films, his first marriage, infidelity, rehab and his cancer battle. It also gives plenty of space to his love story with Catherine Zeta-Jones, which has made her reaction to the whole thing a natural point of curiosity.

Her answer, it turns out, is refreshingly honest. Asked whether it was true that she hadn’t read her husband’s memoir, Zeta-Jones simply confirmed it. She explained that when she is tired at night, reading about her husband is not on her agenda, though she was quick to add that everyone else should pick it up and brace themselves while they read.

The comments were widely reported this week, with some outlets crediting a Page Six interview and others pointing to an appearance on NBC’s ‘Today’. Either way, the tone was light and teasing rather than icy, which fits the couple’s long-running habit of poking fun at each other in public.

Her reasoning is also easy to believe. She had just wrapped around 7 months of filming ‘Wednesday’ season 3 in Dublin, then moved straight on to promoting the Prime Video series ‘Kill Jackie’ in London and Bilbao, Spain. After a stretch like that, a deep dive into her husband’s past may simply be low on the priority list.

Zeta-Jones is skipping a memoir that has already generated plenty of buzz. In an excerpt shared with People, the 82-year-old Douglas admitted for the first time that he had an affair with Kathleen Turner while they filmed ‘Romancing the Stone’ in Mexico. He says the two denied it for years, including in later interviews, and that he kept up the denial to protect his family.

Douglas writes that the affair began while he was separated from his first wife, Diandra, and that nobody on the production knew. He says it ended once Diandra grew suspicious, and that he and Turner eventually repaired their friendship, working together again on ‘The War of the Roses’ and ‘The Kominsky Method’. He also says he asked Turner for permission to include the story and that she agreed.

Zeta-Jones herself is part of the narrative, too. According to the book, when the two first got together after meeting in 1998, she told him she would only be monogamous and wouldn’t date him if he was seeing other people. At the time, Douglas says he was seeing several women in different cities, so he called each one to end things, and he writes that they all took it well.

If anything, the couple’s reaction to the book shows how they have kept things going. Reports say Douglas told ‘Today’ host Willie Geist that when he came home one night and peeked around the corner, his wife didn’t seem upset about the book. Zeta-Jones replied that he had caught her at a good time, which is exactly the kind of banter that has become their trademark.

Douglas has also said that humor is a big part of a lasting marriage, and that couples should talk things through and avoid absolutes during arguments. That advice carries extra weight coming from a pair who split briefly in 2013 and publicly reconciled in 2014. They have been married since 2000 and share a birthday, a detail Douglas has said stood out the first night they met.

Part of why the story is resonating is that it flips the usual memoir drama. Instead of a wounded spouse reacting to every revelation, Zeta-Jones comes across as tired, busy and completely unbothered. It is a reminder that a long marriage can survive a very public look at the past.

It also adds an amusing twist to the book’s rollout. Douglas has been doing the press rounds sharing stories from his past, while his wife is making clear she is happy to let everyone else read it first. For fans, that mix of candor and good humor is exactly what makes the pair so enjoyable to follow.

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